Page 81 of Death is My BFF

“What’s going on?” Thomas asked, finally figuring out I wasn’t upset about him and Marcy.

I debated whether or not to tell him the truth. I had no way of proving that vision would even come true, but I’d seen what those demons were capable of outside of the D&S Tower. Telling him I had seen his death meant potentially dragging him into a world I wished I were oblivious to. Or it meant damning myself to the psych ward. Walking away after what I’d seen wasn’t an option. If Thomas died because of those demons, and I didn’t at least warn him, I would never forgive myself. I had the chance to save his life. That was the most important thing.

“Your life is in danger,” I rushed out. “We have to go somewhere safe.Right now. They might have seen you with me.” I pulled Thomas forward by the sleeve of his sweatshirt, but he resisted.

“What do you mean, my life is in danger?” He jerked away from my grasp, his expression a blend ofyou’ve lost your marblesand pure terror. “Who arethey?”

Behind Thomas, a clearing opened up amongst people walking down the sidewalk. There, I saw a tall raven demon sauntering toward us with his hands in his pockets. If these demons could manifest like Death could, then running wouldn’t help, but it was the only option I had at the moment.

Frantically, I turned back to Thomas. “I’ll explain later, you have to trust me! Come on!” I yanked hard on his hand, and he finally obliged. “Across the street!”

The cars didn’t move very fast on Station Street, but one nearly hit us. They swerved and laid on their horn as I hauled Thomas across the way and down the other sidewalk.

I turned over my shoulder and wished I hadn’t. Two raven demons were close on our trail. And when I looked forward, another demon appeared directly in front of us. Thomas and I came to a halt.

Suddenly two cloaked figures with shorter and smaller frames than Death emerged, dropping to the ground around us with blades in their hands. Seething, the demons both let out a frightening hiss.

“This way!” I yanked Thomas with me back across the street.

“What the fuck was that?” Thomas shouted.

No friggin’ clue!“Just keep running!”

Creatures manifested ahead of us, crawling down the buildings and striking pedestrians to the ground. Thomas and I were forced to make another sharp turn, corralled into the very place I had been trying to avoid. The patio where I’d seen Thomas murdered.

Someone familiar was already there, waiting for us.

“Good evening, Faith,” Malphas said.

He wore a sleek black shirt and silky black pants. Clean-shaven, his jaw was sharp and his cheeks were slightly hallowed in. Midnight hair twisted back into Viking braids, tied away from his face. He diffused a toxic type of attraction, as if I had no other choice but to consider him beautiful, and something about that feeling oddly reminded me of Death.

“If you come quietly, your friend will leave here unharmed,”

Malphas continued in that deep, hoarse voice. “If not, well . . . ” He looked pointedly at Thomas, and then back at me. “One of you is disposable.”

“All right, what is going on?” Thomas exclaimed. “Who is this creep, Faith?”

“Mind your business,Chad,” Malphas seethed.

“I’m not going anywhere with you,” I said, and the raven demigod switched his intense onyx eyes back to mine. I was pretty much done with this supernatural shit for today. I split my focus between Malphas’s composed body language and the hyper, rabid-looking henchman demon standing beside him, who was focused on Thomas.

He was the one I’d seen rip Thomas’s heart out. “And if you’re smart,”

I continued, discreetly wrapping my fingers around my pepper spray bottle in my pocket, “you’ll leave both of us alone. Before Death arrives and rips you in half.”

Malphas apparently didn’t find Death too threatening since his only response was to lift a dark brow.

I acted fast, unleashing half the bottle of spray into the eyes of Malphas’s henchman demon, who had been slowly advancing toward Thomas. Screeching, he dropped to his knees. Thomas and I watched in horror as the demon’s face began to burn away beneath his fingers.

“Ouch,”Thomas and I said in unison.

I turned the bottle on Malphas next, but suddenly my hand was empty, and the bottle was clutched in his dexterous fingers. “Smart girl.” He laughed in a low way, inspecting the canister with black nails. “A pepper spray bottle filled with blessed water?”

“Five bucks on Amazon,” I muttered, wishing I’d gotten the six-pack.

“Impressive.” Malphas disposed of the container and grinned.

“However, your little weapon would not have worked on me. I’m not a newborn demon. I’m a demigod.” He glided toward me, and my thoughts darted around my skull. Where was he going to take me?

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